What if Life Had a Soundtrack?
I received an e-mail this morning from my friend Stephanie Ciccarelli about something new they have put together at Voices.com. This is just one of the many reasons I love that website (and company!)- they are always trying to find new ways to attract clients- thus giving ‘us the voice actors’ new leads as well!

If you’ve ever wondered what a difference a good voice over can make for your project, check out ‘What if Life Had a Soundtrack?’.

These are just the first two videos they have put together, there are more on the way!

Power Text to Speech Reader (exe)
Power Text to Speech Reader is a text-to-speech player that lets you listen to documents, e-mails, or Web pages instead of reading on screen; it uses voice synthesis to create spoken audio from text with natural voices. You can listen on your PC or save text to MP3 or wave files for listening later. You can listen on your PC or save text to MP3 or wave files for listening later. Even better, if you have a portable audio device you can take your text as MP3 files to the gym, in your car, or anyplace you need to go. It can directly open Plain Text files (.txt), Microsoft Word files (.doc), PDF files (.pdf), E-mail files (.eml), Rich Text files (.rtf), HTML files. For Microsoft Internet Explorer users, Power Text to Speech Reader supplies a handy toolbar plug-in for Internet Explorer and for Microsoft Outlook supplies a handy toolbar plug-in for Outlook. Power Text to Speech Reader supports dozens of male, female and robotic voices for over 11 languages. Version 2.01 is a bug fixing release.

Zenedejas Hosts Spirited Soul Productions Grand Opening Night – Evening Of Destiny-
Top names in gospel music such as winner of the las Vegas bma music awards -best gospel performer -female gospel recording artist Gina Green, and two time Dove awards nominee The Prophet, will be commemorating the event with hit songs from their newly released albums.

Voices.com Announces Advertising Opportunities on Blogs and Podcasts
The leading voice industry podcast, VOX Talk, and the Voices.com Blog Network are now welcoming sponsors on a monthly basis. [PR.com - January 31, 2007]

Voices.com Presents Webinars on How To Find Voice Actors Online
The team at Voices.com recently started offering webinars to their customers, teaching them how to use the voice actor marketplace and hire voice actors online. [PR.com - June 08, 2007]

Advertising Agencies to Benefit from the Spring ‘07 Release of Voices.com
Agencies in search of top tier voice over talent and easy project management from hiring to billing have a friend in Voices.com. [PR.com - May 05, 2007]

How to get started in Voiceovers
Well, I am still exploring this question myself. I found a very interesting perspective on this question here at Dave Houston’s Blog. Eventually, when I am rich and famous, I will compose an amazingly pithy and interesting answer to this question myself. In the meantime, I will share the resources I find with you so we can learn together!

Voices.com and Voice123: The Verdict is In, Pro Voice Actors Unite
In a recent poll involving over 10,000 voice actors, an overwhelming majority of respondents said that they prefer Voices.com over voice123 as their voice marketplace. [PR.com - March 05, 2007]

They Found Me At Voices.com!

Kudos and much thanks to you and Voices.com — I just completed a corporate video narration for Portofino Group, Miami, Florida. They were very pleased with my work and it sounds like I’m on board for a lengthier project with them in a few weeks.

They found me at Voices.com !!

It’s nice to get work through auditioning — even NICER to simply be chosen from the pack !

Thanks again and blessings to you, David and gang.

Cheers,

Glad Faith

Vox Talk Podcast has been a Godsend

I am a relatively new member and I am absolutely THRILLED I found Voices.com.

This site has been a Godsend… for someone like me who works in the industry behind the scenes, but who is always looking at the spotlight (or microphone) with stars in his eyes! Thanks to the support of my family, a little bit of luck and the insight of your website and podcasts, I am finally getting my name back out there and starting to book some jobs; After having a good start in Chicago several years ago, then taking a not-by-choice near 6 year hiatus, I am starting over, but I am READY! !

Spring ‘07 Release – SurePay

So you’ve found a voice over talent using Voices.com. Now you have to go to an entirely different web service to pay them – and another to receive the audio files – who can remember all those websites, usernames and passwords?

Thanks to SurePay, now there’s only one name you’ll need to know: Voices.com.

Cia Recruitment Video
Payment is on a lo/no/deferred basis. Director: Eric Brown. We are looking for a male voice actor able to play between the ages 40 – 50. The spot will be read solo, and is under two minutes. Expect no more than 2-3 hours of work. The rate is $35/hour cash. No scale. The finished animated video will be presented in 3-D on holograph kiosks at the Central Intelligence Agency. Apply to: Alex Freimuth 1 breakdown: 1. Male / Any yrs. / White. [Others like this] The character you …

Voiceover Talent for Recordings in Spanish on Voice123.com
Searching for and hiring voice over actors and producers for projects in Spanish has become a quick and easy task. [SANEPR 5 March, 2007]

Text to Speech MP3 with Natural Voices
This program converts text to speech and MP3. It supports batch conversion to MP3s. It provides AT&T natural voices in English, German, French or Spanish. It integrates with MS Word, WordPerfect, Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer, and lets you direct listen to text in documents, Web pages and e-mails.

Marcus Hutton Voice Overs – British ISDN Voice-Over talent…
Marcus Hutton is a British male voice over artist. Available for voice work throughout the UK and the World. Get details of his international ISDN and studio recording service. Delivery all formats including MP3, Wav, Aiff, CD and DAT. Bookings now taken by credit card. Marcus Hutton British voice overs – hear on line samples for UK voice-overs, TV voice overs and radio voice-overs

Personalized Touch
Celebrities bring the bling…from their head to their toes, literally! Pink had her and husband Cary Hart’s initials and their wedding date hand applied in blue swarovski crystals to the soles of her Stuart Weitzman heals for their wedding. Any bride who buys Stuart Weitzman shoes for her wedding can do the same for an additional $75.

Child Care Subsidies and Leaving Welfare : Policy Issues and Strategies
This report examines policy issues around subsidy use among parents who leave TANF. It includes data on what parents have to do to keep subsidies as they leave TANF in 11 sites/11 states in 2001, examines existing research on welfare leavers and subsidy patterns, and reviews state policies regarding child care subsidies for welfare leavers for a range of states. It provides an overview of key policy issues and discusses the implications of these findings for efforts to help families move towards self-sufficiency.

The Sacramento Dependency Drug Court: Development and Outcomes

Dependency Drug Courts (DDCs) are a growing method of addressing the functional status and reunification success of families involved in child welfare and affected by substance use disorders. Despite widespread interest in DDCs, few evaluations have appeared in the literature to help inform the discussion about their effectiveness. This article provides a description of various types of DDCs and reports 24-month reunification rates from the Sacramento DDC. Results indicated that DDC participants had higher rates of treatment participation than did comparison participants. In addition, at 24 months, 42% of the DDC children had reunified versus 27.2% of the comparison children. There were no differences in treatment completion or child reunification rates by parent’s primary drug problem. Rates of recidivism were extremely low for both the DDC and comparison groups and did not differ significantly. The results of the present study are encouraging and suggest that rigorous, controlled studies are merited to further evaluate the effectiveness of DDCs.

warnerbros.com – Warner Bros. Online
atlantic records, cbs, elektra records, harry potter, harry potter movie, hollywood news, hollywood stars, nbc, reprise records, scooby, tv, usa network, wb, wb television, warner bros, warner bros records, warner bros studio stores, warner brothers, warner brothers network, accessories, animated cartoons, animation, bands, batman, batman beyond, box office, buffy the vampire slayer, bugs bunny, cartoons, celebrities, celebrity, celebrity interviews, celebrity profiles, celebs, change of heart, charmed, chat, clothes, clothing, contests, dawson, donnell show, doo, enter to win, entertainment, entertainment news, er, extra, family movies, felicity, free cash, free money, free stuff, friends, games, gift items, gifts, gossip, gotham girls, home videos, jamie foxx, jenny jones, jukebox, kids wb, kids cartoons, kids movies, la femme nikita, latest movies, lobo, looney tunes theater, lyrics, mad mag, mad magazine, message boards, movie clips, movie previews, movie reviews, movie showtimes, movie stars, movie trailers, movies, music, music artists, new movies, people, pokemon, popular, primetime, roswell, s court, s creek, season finally, season premiere, showtimes, stars, superheroes, sweepstakes, taz, television, the drew carey show, the matrix, the matrix comics, the new batman superman, adventures, the oblongs, the queen latifah show, the rosie o, theme song, third watch, tv listings, tv series, tv show, tweety bird, videos, warner videos, wb store, web cards, west wing, what is the matrix, wizard of oz

Early Implementation of the Minnesota Integrated Services Project
This report examines the early implementation of the Minnesota Integrated Services Project (ISP), initiated by the Minnesota Department of Human Services and operating in eight sites across the state. Minnesota ISP focuses on improving economic and family-related outcomes for long-term welfare recipients by increasing access to comprehensive services that address multiple needs and coordinating services provided by multiple service systems. This report discusses the progress made and challenges faced in developing coordinated services provided by multiple systems during the early stages of implementation and provides recommendations for improving these service integration efforts.

How Effective Are Family Treatment Drug Courts? Outcomes From a Four-Site National Study

Family treatment drug courts (FTDCs) are a rapidly expanding program model designed to improve treatment and child welfare outcomes for families involved in child welfare who have substance abuse problems. The present study compares outcomes for 250 FTDC participants to those of similar parents who did not receive FTDC services in four sites. Results show that FTDC parents, compared to comparison parents, entered substance abuse treatment more quickly, stayed in treatment longer, and completed more treatment episodes. Furthermore, children of FTDC parents entered permanent placements more quickly and were more likely to be reunified with their parents, compared to children of non-FTDC participants. Finally, the FTDC program appears to have a “value added” in facilitating positive child welfare outcomes above and beyond the influence of positive treatment experiences.

Parental Substance Use Disorders and Child Maltreatment: Overlap, Gaps, and Opportunities

There are relatively few empirically sound studies or nationally representative data on the number of children in Child Welfare Services (CWS) who are affected by their parents’ substance abuse or dependence. The two systems that could systematically monitor this population, CWS and substance abuse treatment, are not required to capture the data elements that would identify families in both systems. The studies that are based on CWS populations or parents in treatment indicate that there is a substantial overlap in client populations. This review provides a summary of the available data; provides estimates of the overlap between populations, including the number of infants born each year with prenatal substance exposure; and suggests important opportunities to close the data gap between the systems. The findings underscore both the need for obtaining accurate data within the systems and the opportunities for states to improve their cross-system data efforts as part of their outcome monitoring.

Corruption and Trade Tariffs, or a Case of Uniform Tariffs
By explicitly accounting for the interaction between importers and corrupt customs officials the paper argues that setting trade tariff rate at a uniform level not only limits the ability of public officials to extract bribes from importers but also can deliver higher government revenues and welfare than a Ramsey tariff structure when corruption is pervasive. If the government’s main objective is to raise revenues at the minimum welfare cost, optimally-set tariff rates will be inversely proportional to the elasticity of demand of imports, and thus will generally differ across goods.

warnerbros.com – Warner Bros. Online
atlantic records, cbs, elektra records, harry potter, harry potter movie, hollywood news, hollywood stars, nbc, reprise records, scooby, tv, usa network, wb, wb television, warner bros, warner bros records, warner bros studio stores, warner brothers, warner brothers network, accessories, animated cartoons, animation, bands, batman, batman beyond, box office, buffy the vampire slayer, bugs bunny, cartoons, celebrities, celebrity, celebrity interviews, celebrity profiles, celebs, change of heart, charmed, chat, clothes, clothing, contests, dawson, donnell show, doo, enter to win, entertainment, entertainment news, er, extra, family movies, felicity, free cash, free money, free stuff, friends, games, gift items, gifts, gossip, gotham girls, home videos, jamie foxx, jenny jones, jukebox, kids wb, kids cartoons, kids movies, la femme nikita, latest movies, lobo, looney tunes theater, lyrics, mad mag, mad magazine, message boards, movie clips, movie previews, movie reviews, movie showtimes, movie stars, movie trailers, movies, music, music artists, new movies, people, pokemon, popular, primetime, roswell, s court, s creek, season finally, season premiere, showtimes, stars, superheroes, sweepstakes, taz, television, the drew carey show, the matrix, the matrix comics, the new batman superman, adventures, the oblongs, the queen latifah show, the rosie o, theme song, third watch, tv listings, tv series, tv show, tweety bird, videos, warner videos, wb store, web cards, west wing, what is the matrix, wizard of oz

Acute Decompensated Heart Failure: Review of Pathophysiology and Key Clinical Trials
This program is one of four programs in the Acute Decompensated Heart Failure: Integrating Consensus Guidelines and Individual Patient Characteristics into Optimal Treatment Regimens series. The series was produced by ASHP Advantage and sponsored by an educational grant from Scios, Inc.

In this podcast, Jo E. Rodgers, Pharm.D., BCPS, provides an overview of the pathophysiology of ADHF, including risk stratification criteria based on observational data of patients hospitalized with ADHF. The primary focus of the program, however, will be on key clinical trials that guide treatment selection for patients with ADHF. This podcast was recorded in August 2006, and CE is available through September 14, 2007.

C.E. Credits: 1 hr (0.1 CEUs) Duration: 42 minutes

• Optional Program Handout (PDF) — Includes CE and disclosure information, presentation slides, and a copy of the post test for your convenience.
• Post Test — To be eligible for continuing education credit, you must complete the post test online at the ASHP Advantage Testing Center.

Elizabeth Hurley Wedding Photos
Here are just a couple of the photos released from Elizabeth Hurley’s wedding extravaganza earlier in March. Hurley wore a Versace gown for her first wedding ceremony that took place at Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire.

Hurley and Nayar then celebrated their union in India with a traditional Hindu ceremony which included the bride and groom circling a sacred fire while Hindu priests chanted in Sanskrit.

To see more pictures of Hurley’s wedding to Arun Nayar, check out this week’s People Magazine, on newsstands Friday.

Photos courtesy of People.com

Regression analysis of mean quality-adjusted lifetime with censored data

In clinical trials of chronic diseases such as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, cancer, or cardiovascular diseases, the concept of quality-adjusted lifetime (QAL) has received more and more attention. In this paper, we consider the problem of how the covariates affect the mean QAL when the data are subject to right censoring. We allow a very general form for the mean model as a function of covariates. Using the idea of inverse probability weighting, we first construct a simple weighted estimating equation for the parameters in our mean model. We then find the form of the most efficient estimating equation, which yields the most efficient estimator for the regression parameters. Since the most efficient estimator depends on the distribution of the health history processes, and thus cannot be estimated nonparametrically, we consider different approaches for improving the efficiency of the simple weighted estimating equation using observed data. The applicability of these methods is demonstrated by both simulation experiments and a data example from a breast cancer clinical trial study.

Scrubs Star Marries
Our favorite sarcastic physician on Scrubs got married over the weekend. Scrubs star John C. McGinley married yoga teacher Nichole Kessler on Saturday.

The couple married at their home in Malibu in front of 30 family and friends. The couple dated for two and a half years before McGinley proposed last August.

The bride wore a blush gown by Le Sposa Di Gio and carried a bouquet of Dutch “Shirley Temple” peonies from LA Botanicals for their Saturday evening ceremony. The bride was escorted down the aisle by McGinley’s 9-year-old son, Max.

After the ceremony, guests dined on sushi from Nobu Malibu and a three-tiered wedding cake by Mäni’s Bakery in Los Angeles.

Photo courtesy of People.com

Early Implementation of the Minnesota Integrated Services Project
This report examines the early implementation of the Minnesota Integrated Services Project (ISP), initiated by the Minnesota Department of Human Services and operating in eight sites across the state. Minnesota ISP focuses on improving economic and family-related outcomes for long-term welfare recipients by increasing access to comprehensive services that address multiple needs and coordinating services provided by multiple service systems. This report discusses the progress made and challenges faced in developing coordinated services provided by multiple systems during the early stages of implementation and provides recommendations for improving these service integration efforts.

A Unique Way To Arrive At Your Wedding

Whether you choose a vintage car, a stretch limo, a horse-drawn carriage (á la Jordan and Peter Andre?s wedding) or even a helicopter, there is one important consideration for a bride when choosing her wedding transportation and that is reliability. The last thing any bride-to-be wants is to arrive late for her own wedding!

That is why I was surprised to read about bride Kirsty Ainsworth. For her nuptials in Macclesfield dressed in her full-length white beaded satin wedding dress she strolled down the road from her Mum?s house to her local bus stop with her bridesmaid and patiently waited for the No 10 bus to take them both on the five-mile, 20-minute route to Macclesfield Register Office. I?ve heard of hiring a vintage red London double-decker bus and have even attended a wedding where the guests were ferried around in such a bus but I have never heard of the bride catching a lift on a public bus.

According to Manchestereveningnews.co.uk Kirsty said,

“I just wanted to do something a bit unusual and have a day to remember. I did get a few beeps, some waves and quite a lot of funny looks while I waited for the bus.?

We all know how unpunctual buses tend to be so she was very brave to risk this! I guess it provides the bride with a wonderful story to tell people about her wedding day and of course it will have saved her money ? a £3.20 bus ticket compared to the average £300 spent on wedding transportation is a superb saving!

Rush Limbaugh Meets Peter Griffin

It’s creator writer and predominate voice talent of the show is Seth MacFarlane who is an interesting case study in and of himself When Family Guy delves into politics it cuts both ways some of the time but mostly it comes off as
TAGS: Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy

LINK: Rush Limbaugh Meets Peter Griffin by The Popinjay Jim-Rose.com from Google Blogs

————————
SIMILAR STORIES
Family Guy TV show cast to voice characters in game – Pro-G
Family Guy cast signs up to voice game – Joystiq
MORE FROM Richmond Times Dispatch | Mygamer.com

Movie Trailer Voice for Podcasts, Promos, Intros, Outros etc.
Right now, one of the hottest voiceover styles is the Movie Trailer Voice, especially in light of the Geico commercial! There are tons of applications where a voice like this can really take your podcast, promo or commercial to the next level. Interested in taking your Podcast to the next level…visit my web site www.VoiceOverforyou.com, today!

With nearly 20 years in and around the entertainment business in Los Angeles, I have seen “styles” come and go. As a professional voice-over talent, I lend my voice to podcasts, radio & TV commercials, promos, narration, on-hold messaging, movie trailers and the like.

Podcasts are quickly turning in to a HUGE avenue for bringing awareness to your business…getting your product, whatever that might be, out there and into the ears of interested potential clients. You may have noticed that many Podcasts sound a bit cheap or unprofessional…yours does not need to; hire a professional voice talent. Many of them can produce a professional intro and outro as well as do the voicing for you! These are usually done at a much lower rate than one would charge for a national TV or radio spot. If you are going to take the time to produce a Podcast, consider how a professional voice talent can add to the value of your creation. If your “name” is on it, make it the best it can be!

I’ll provide some links for you to some very good professional talent.

Thanks for taking time to visit and, again, visit my web site for all my latest voiceover demos. Feel free to email me for a quote on your next voice talent need.

Have a great week!

Brian in Charlotte

Re: Voice Talent

---

naraku_unblessedsoul wrote:

Hey, I was watching the ending credits of Futurama and I happened to see a name that caught my attention.  Actually, I dropped everything I had in my hand and crashed into the floor when I saw it.  The name I’m speaking of is John DiMaggio.  For those of you who do not know who that is, he is the voice talent behind Kimahri and Wakka from Final Fantasy X.  It’s been bugging me for quite some time now so I have to know; Is the same person? (Oh, and please spare me the snide remarks about how late I am to notice it.  I’m well aware of that)

---

I believe this is the same person. 

Movie Trailer Voice for Podcasts, Promos, Intros, Outros etc.
Right now, one of the hottest voiceover styles is the Movie Trailer Voice, especially in light of the Geico commercial! There are tons of applications where a voice like this can really take your podcast, promo or commercial to the next level. Interested in taking your Podcast to the next level…visit my web site www.VoiceOverforyou.com, today!

With nearly 20 years in and around the entertainment business in Los Angeles, I have seen “styles” come and go. As a professional voice-over talent, I lend my voice to podcasts, radio & TV commercials, promos, narration, on-hold messaging, movie trailers and the like.

Podcasts are quickly turning in to a HUGE avenue for bringing awareness to your business…getting your product, whatever that might be, out there and into the ears of interested potential clients. You may have noticed that many Podcasts sound a bit cheap or unprofessional…yours does not need to; hire a professional voice talent. Many of them can produce a professional intro and outro as well as do the voicing for you! These are usually done at a much lower rate than one would charge for a national TV or radio spot. If you are going to take the time to produce a Podcast, consider how a professional voice talent can add to the value of your creation. If your “name” is on it, make it the best it can be!

I’ll provide some links for you to some very good professional talent.

Thanks for taking time to visit and, again, visit my web site for all my latest voiceover demos. Feel free to email me for a quote on your next voice talent need.

Have a great week!

Brian in Charlotte

MIDDLE FINGER PO
JARU HERMANO WAS SUPERB!!! yeheessss. i must admit that i have never been the biggest fan of TA productions. but this one, i swear to goddess athena i loooved it!!! jaru hermano did an excellent performance. mejo murang-mura ka nga lang. haha but nevertheless, it was wonderful. i swear i am not saying this just because were friends or whatev, haha but really jaru was great. the play was not dragging and heavy. it was very effective in making the audience feel every scene. i was scared during the creepy parts especially when voice overs would play and like the voice would sound big and low. i laughed during the funny parts and was awww-ing during the emo or touching parts. i liked it. oh!! i loved rin the stage design. it was snakes and ladders. parang the ladders were there together with the wires and stuff to create the “school” feel. haha im not sure. well thats how it looked to me.

Creative Concept, Humor or Announcer Radio Commercial Sample
“Concept,” “Humor,” or “Announcer,” it all starts with a creative concept – developed from discussions about your product, target market, and best marketing strategy . . . We add concise copywriting with a clear message for retention and a call to action… then turn our attention to casting fresh, distinctive, professional voice talent. After that it?s all about the production ? we record it to the highest digital broadcast standards ? and when we?re finished . . . You have impact! Commercials that stand out from all the clutter. Our creative staff writes all styles of commercials with one idea in mind – RESULTS, RESULTS, RESULTS! Make it memorable! Make them laugh. Make them cry. But MAKE THEM BUY!

Why Not Blog??
It started with an e-mail. Stephanie from voices.com had asked for reviews of some new commercial scripts. I decided to throw in my two cents…that weren’t worth nearly that much! Stephanie sent me an e-mail response thanking me for my review. In her nice note, she mentioned possibly doing an interview with me in 2007 that would explore my long forgotten career as a Radio Disney personality and feature writer. I immediately shot back that it wouldn’t be terribly interesting, but I’d be happy to oblige!

It only takes one tiny seed to grow an apple tree, and you are now partaking in the fruits…pardon the expression.

This is my apple tree…the outlet for my thoughts. Thoughts about the voice over industry, the endless frustrations involved with building a home studio, and other various ramblings that often come to me just as I’m falling asleep.

Many people I know and admire have blogs. I enjoy reading them, and thought- why not?-what’s one more blog among the millions of others? Who knows…maybe I do in fact have something interesting to offer! Only time will tell…

In the meantime, please visit the blogs of my new friends Brian Haymond, Bob Souer, and Voices.com. I promise they will offer morsels worth your time!

Repeating…Leaves a Nice Taste In My Mouth
NO, not that kind of “repeating”. I’m talking about repeat business. I’m sure if you had a good experience with a person, vendor, tradesman etc., you would mark down the name and in the event the need ever arose again or if you were asked by someone for a recommendation, you would refer back to that person or company etc.

One of the hallmarks of any good business is the tally of repeat customers. So, when looking for a voice talent or audio production person, be sure to find out the percentage of repeat clients…ask for references, you’ll be glad you did and if the person is worth their salt, they’ll be happy to provide you with a long list.

Brian Haymond